Warriors hold on to defeat Irvine, 53-51

Irvine's Brittany Lambeth is pressured by Woodbridge's Sarah Lipton during the Warriors' 53-51 victory over the Vaqueros Thursday night in Irvine. KEVIN SULLIVAN, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Woodbridge's Wendy Shiga, left, battles for a loose ball with Irvine's Deven Hidalgo during the Warriors' 53-51 victory over the Vaqueros Thursday night in Irvine. KEVIN SULLIVAN, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Irvine's Deven Hidalgo is well guarded by Woodbridge's Sarah Lipton, Emma Shimizu and Kelli Robinson during the Warriors' 53-51 victory over the Vaqueros Thursday night in Irvine.KEVIN SULLIVAN, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Woodbridge head coach Pete Belanto yells from the sidelines during the Warriors' 53-51 victory over the Vaqueros Thursday night in Irvine. KEVIN SULLIVAN, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Irvine's Brittany Lambeth is pressured by Woodbridge's Sarah Lipton during the Warriors' 53-51 victory over the Vaqueros Thursday night in Irvine. KEVIN SULLIVAN, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Woodbridge's girls basketball team clinched at least a share of the Pacific Coast League title Thursday night.

But Coach Pete Belanto wasn't in a mood to celebrate after watching his team hold on for a 53-51 victory over Irvine on the Vaqueros' home court.

Irvine had the ball twice in the final 30 seconds with a chance to tie it, but could not convert, missing a chance at handing Woodbridge its first league loss of the year.

The Vaqueros got the ball back with about six seconds left when Emma Shimizu missed the front end of a one-on-one free throw opportunity. But Brittany Lambeth's long-range jumper fell off the rim as time expired.

"We shouldn't have (won), they deserved to win," Belanto said. "We were awful again. We haven't played a good basketball game in so long. I don't know what it is, we can't get any energy, we don't play hard, we get out-hustled on loose balls, we don't shoot the ball and we don't make lay-ups and free throws. We're just not playing good ball right now.

"They deserved to win, they outplayed us the whole way; we just got lucky."

Woodbridge (22-3, 8-0) leads Beckman by two games and plays the Patriots Tuesday at Beckman. Woodbridge finishes up the regular season on Feb. 7 against Corona del Mar, a team it beat, 71-19, in the first round.

It marks the fourth straight league title for Woodbridge and 23rd overall, most under former coach Eric Bangs, now an assistant for Belanto.

Irvine, which was upset by Corona del Mar, 49-46, on Tuesday, bounced back with a strong performance against Woodbridge.

"I thought we did a great job of putting together a complete game," Irvine Coach Amy Klamberg said. "I thought my kids gave a tremendous effort. We were smart with the ball. It's hard to lose that type of a game because we were right there and we had a lot of really good looks at the end of the game, but walking away, it gives us some great momentum going into next week.

"We had a lot of great looks and got some great shots. The ball just didn't get in the basket. They played with heart."

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